


after the battle

by ratb0ys



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Fluff, Gay, Harringrove, Kissing, M/M, idk any more tags whoops, mlm, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2020-06-25 01:07:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19735294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ratb0ys/pseuds/ratb0ys
Summary: ya uh stranger things season three spoilers! anyway here’s an au i made bc i refuse to accept the canon, some softy harringrove stuff.





	after the battle

the days billy spent in the hospital were long and monotonous. he spent most of his time staring at the ceiling, or napping. time was measured, in his mind, by the space between the visits of nurses who took his blood, gave him pills, changed his bandages.  
and, of course, the visits of steve harrington.  
billy had been in the hospital for over a month, and during that time max had visited him three times, el had visited four, and the rest of the party had dropped by twice. but steve harrington visited every day at 1:00. sometimes he brought food, sometimes a book for billy to kill time reading.  
“y’know, billy. you’re not as bad as everyone seems to think.” he said one day, to which billy replied: “not anymore.”  
he liked steve, sincerely. steve had driven billy to the hospital the night of the fight with the mindflayer, carried him into the hospital, checked him in, told the nurses and doctors that he had been in a freak car accident. the busted up mustang they had driven there backed them up, and nobody cared enough to really check if that’s what had happened. steve stayed with billy that whole night, sat next to billy until he woke up.  
and when it came time to drive billy home, steve did that, too. steve took the day off from work and went to the hospital at nine a.m. to pick billy up. billy was standing outside the door, white shirt and grey sweatpants hung loosely over his frame. he’d lost weight since he’d been in the hospital, and antagonized over having to build up the muscle mass he lost.  
billy winced getting into steve’s car, his still healing scars stinging.  
“you okay?” steve asked.  
“yeah, i’m fine. hurts a little, that’s all.” he didn’t buckle his seatbelt, his sternum had been broken and the pressure hurt too much for it to be touched. the drive home was silent, the boys couldn’t decide on what music they wanted to listen to and neither of them were really in the mood for music anyway. steve dropped billy off with the promise that he’d be back at noon to change bandages.  
billy napped until steve finally arrived back at his house. nobody had been home all day. max was probably out with the party, and he didn’t know or particularly care where his parents were. he let steve in and sat up on the kitchen countertop, taking his shirt off. it was a routine both of them knew well, though this time there were no nurses to monitor them and show steve what to do if he got lost. steve began gently unwrapping the bandages tied around billy’s torso.  
“they’re looking good.” he said. billy looked down.  
“yeah.” he said shortly. steve finished unwrapping the bandages and looked up into billy’s eyes. god, billy wished he hadn’t because now he was trapped, locked into steve’s hazel green gaze with no hope of escape. he smiled weakly. steve smiled back, rested his hands on billy’s knees.  
“steve,” billy whispered, because even though they were alone it felt like a moment he should be quiet, “steve, why are you doing this for me?”  
“i don’t know. i really don’t.” steve said. then, after a moment of thinking: “i guess at first i thought it was… maybe my responsibility? my responsibility to look after you, because you saved el’s life and all, but after a few weeks i began to look forward to it. i wanted to come see you. i kind of wanted,” he paused, then continued slowly, “i kind of wanted to do this.”  
billy’s heart caught in his throat as steve leaned forward. he tilted his head sideways, sitting up straighter. their noses bumped a little right before their lips met. billy sighed a little bit into the kiss. steve tasted like cherry chapstick and vanilla ice cream. billy had never tasted anything so good in his life. steve picked his hands up off of billy’s knees and rubbed them lightly over billy’s shoulders, so lightly billy got goosebumps. the edge of the countertop dug into billy’s fingers, so he moved his hands to rest on steve’s face. the two boys pushed closer together, as close as they could in their current situation. steve was standing in between billy’s knees, billy’s arms wrapped around steve’s neck. billy licked gently at steve’s lips, and steve opened his mouth, letting out what could have been a very quiet moan. billy flicked his tongue in and out of steve’s mouth, biting softly at his lips until he moved away. billy panicked for a second, trying to think of what he had done wrong, until steve’s lips grazed gently over billy’s neck. billy shifted his hands, tangling what was left of his fingers in steve’s soft hair. steve moved down billy’s neck, sucking soft bruises down to the scar on his chest. he brushed it gently with his lips, then licked it. billy shivered and let out a soft moan. steve smiled and traveled down to the first of the scars on billy’s stomach, leaving a trail of bruises behind him. the soreness and pain of billy’s injuries nearly disappeared in the pleasure he was feeling under steve’s mouth.  
steve must have kissed or touched almost every inch of billy’s scarred body. he grazed the scars on billy’s back and rubbed the pads of his thumbs over the bumpy flesh of billy’s hips. he sucked the tips of billy’s fingers, kissed the nubs where his pinky fingers had been and where his knuckles were white and scarred. he kissed and licked where billy’s arms had been scarred from fighting, and returned to nibble at billy’s neck when he had kissed all of the little random scrapes and bruises that remained.  
sweat rolled down billy’s face and trickled down his chest by the time steve was done. steve retrieved a towel from the bathroom and dried billy off with it, admiring his handiwork. nearly every bit of smooth skin left on billy’s torso was peppered with bruises.  
“a shame i have to cover it up, huh?” steve smiled.  
“yeah, really.” steve’s hands worked deftly as he cleaned billy’s skin and wrapped cloth bandages around him. it was over before billy was quite ready for steve to stop touching him, so the two held hands for a few minutes.  
“i have to go.” steve said finally.  
“see you tomorrow?”  
“yeah. i’ll bring food. can you handle being alone till then?” steve joked.  
“i dunno. guess we’ll see, huh?”  
“guess we will. don’t die on me, hargrove.” steve said, opening the door.  
“i’ll try.” billy said.  
“catch you later.” the door shut softly behind steve. the house was quiet again.  
“i love you.” billy whispered into the silence.


End file.
